Paris Air Show 2025: Embraer secures options for 17 European KC-390 airframes with Portuguese and Dutch deals

A Portuguese KC-390 at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) 2024 event in the UK. Two separate Portuguese and Dutch deals announced at the Paris Air Show 2025 have included options for 17 aircraft for European and/or NATO allies. (Janes/Sam Wise)

Embraer has secured the production slots for 17 of its KC-390 Millennium transport aircraft for future European and/or NATO customers, with two deals signed at the Paris Air Show 2025.

Separate deals announced for Portugal and the Netherlands on 16 and 17 June included the provision of options for 10 and seven aircraft respectively that can be acquired by allied countries on a government-to-government basis.

As explained by Embraer, this procurement model, which had already been used for the combined Austrian and Netherlands buys, reserves slots on the production line through to about 2035.

The Portuguese deal announced on 16 June also covered an additional aircraft for itself to add to the five already contracted, while the Dutch deal also announced a new modular roll-on/roll-off aeromedical evacuation compartment for its nine aircraft.

Designated as C-390 in its transport guise and as KC-390 in its tanker-transport guise, the Millennium can carry more payload than the C-130 at a higher speed and over a farther distance. The airlifter has a hold volume of 170 m³ (including the ramp) and a maximum payload of 23 tonnes (or a concentrated maximum payload of 26 tonnes over the centre of gravity).

Company-released performance specifications give the aircraft a maximum cruise speed of 470 kt (870 km/h), a maximum altitude of 36,000 ft, and a range (with 23 tonnes of payload) of 1,380 n miles (2,556 km), or a ferry flight with internal fuel tanks of 4,640 n miles. The range can be extended by in-flight refuelling.